


Nothing left to die for

by stormy1990



Series: ASSASSIN'S SHADOW [3]
Category: SixTONES (Band)
Genre: Assassins, Hokuto's couch!, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:09:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25836280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stormy1990/pseuds/stormy1990
Summary: Having each other's back was definitely helpful, but what if they had become too attached?It was time to find out how far they could go together and where their job would actually challenge their feelings for each other.
Relationships: Kyomoto Taiga/Matsumura Hokuto
Series: ASSASSIN'S SHADOW [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1874911
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	Nothing left to die for

**Author's Note:**

> Here I am finally back with the final sequel of this small Assassin AU setting!
> 
> First part: What doesn't kill you disappoints me  
> Second part: Would you die for me? No, but I would kill for you
> 
> This part ended up being pretty messy between action and comedy, I am sorry if it is not as interesting as the first two^^"
> 
> Have fun reading and be ready for plot holes, spelling and grammar mistakes!

It felt like watching Hokuto for the very first time.

Never had Taiga seen him this calm, this off guard.

His own apartment really seemed to be a place he would only let people in he trusted or he would never drop his guard this easily.

Taiga knew what he was talking about, when he once tried to wake Hokuto up when he had fallen asleep in his hideout after a pretty long and nerve-racking mission Hokuto had almost shot him in the face by pulling out his gun and shooting even without checking who was in front of him. 

It would have been the same the other way around Taiga knew that. They were both always on edge, always having to watch out for enemies, but this place was calmer, not that Taiga had missed the hidden gun between two pillows after all he had kicked it almost off the couch the evening before when Hokuto had finally introduced him to his place. 

And he had to admit that Hokuto’s apartment couch was indeed way more comfortable and spacious than the one in the hideout.

For a moment he thought about reaching out for the other one’s face, but then he laughed at himself. That would be indeed too dangerous, who knew maybe there was also a knife hidden somewhere and a visit to the ER after a pretty exhausting night wasn’t what they needed.

Unfortunately Taiga had to take his leave as work was waiting for him and for the very first time he thought maybe he had after all found someone worth dying for, not that he planned to do so in the near future.

***

“If I were you I’d totally reject this one,” Hokuto said and put Taiga’s phone down on the table in Taiga’s hideout after the other one had shown him the data for his next mission.

“The money is too good to refuse though,” Taiga said as he cleaned his rifle.

“It’s raining and storming outside. There is not even a detailed schedule of the target. All you might get is a heavy cold.”

Taiga flashed the other one a knowing smile on that. “Well at least I have someone to take care of me when I catch a cold?”

“If I have to take care of you then definitely in your apartment though,” Hokuto teased back, but Taiga had already turned his back to him again and he could see how Taiga seemed to space out for a moment. 

“Anyway, this group is completely unknown to us, what if this is some kind of set up?” Hokuto changed the topic as Taiga put his rifle into the bag.

“I guess we will see that? You will definitely be able to see if something is going on behind my back, right?” With a wink Taiga already headed out the hideout on which Hokuto rolled his eyes and got up, shouting after him. “Don’t make me responsible for your life!”

“You can stay here if you want,” Taiga shouted back, already out of sight.

“Right, staying behind to do what, clean your hideout?”

“That would be great, thank you!”

“THAT WAS A JOKE!” Hokuto shouted as he grabbed his own bag to follow Taiga after all, because having each other’s back is something they were both relying on by now.

***

“I told you this is ridiculous,” Hokuto whispered while having his own rifle set on Taiga from another building, obviously not to shoot him, but to shoot everyone who would get into the way of Taiga getting done with his job.

“Just because you can’t calculate the wind speed doesn’t mean I can’t,” Taiga whispered back through the small earpiece they had both set up to stay in contact.

“And now you will also tell me that you will be able to avoid all the raindrops on the way down to your target so that there is absolutely no disturbing factor in this.”

“Watch me trying,” Taiga said in a calm voice, his aim steady on the window of the building on the other side. 

Hokuto wanted to scold him so badly for taking their job so lightly, but on the other hand he was also at fault for the other one’s behavior. ‘What doesn’t kill you disappoints me’ was definitely the worst thing he had ever said to the boy and now it was his job to make sure that he would forever stay disappointed!

“Get ready,” Taiga whispered on which Hokuto realized he had dangerously spaced out for a few seconds in which the target had obviously shown up.

“Make sure you are fast,” Hokuto said as he changed his rifle to the target’s building to make sure that no one would shoot back at Taiga after he was done with his job. 

“Maybe I will be faster than you were last night.”

Hokuto lifted his eyes from the rifle with a stunned expression before he let out a pretty offended sound on which he could hear Taiga’s chuckle.

“You will so suffer for this,” Hokuto said as he concentrated on the target again.

“Totally looking forward to it,” Taiga said before he fell silent and when the next wind gust had calmed down he finally took his chance.

“Dude, I told you-” Hokuto started, but got interrupted.

“Shut up,” Taiga said harshly as he had hit the target, but most likely not with a deadly shot and he tried to concentrate to get another clear shot, but people were already all over the room, trying to spot his location and the target got out of his sight too fast to have another shot.

“Taiga, move!” Hokuto shouted as he aimed a random shot through the broken window so that the bodyguards would have to back off, giving Taiga enough time to get away.

***

“We can split up if you are nervous about them following us,” Taiga said on which Hokuto growled.

“If they follow anyone then it’s you! I wasn’t even in their sight. And no, we’re not splitting up.”

“Then which hideout are we heading for?” Taiga asked way too relaxed about the situation, on which Hokuto gave him another deathglare, but took his wrist and pulled him towards another direction.

“None of them. We will stay somewhere else tonight.”

That somewhere else was something Taiga totally agreed on when they checked in to a love hotel for the night.

“Nice taste,” Taiga teased as they got into the room, which had all the fancy stuff they could use for the whole night if Hokuto got out of his annoyed mood. 

“It’s not the first time a target got away,” Taiga said as he dropped on the bed, his thoughts already on the whirlpool the room next door had, but Hokuto made it clear that most likely none of his fantasies would come true tonight.

“That doesn’t make it less dangerous and we don’t even know anything about this company, neither do we about the client.”

“Since when are you so overprotective?” Taiga asked with a slightly amused expression, but after Hokuto had peaked out of the window and made sure no one could actually try to hit an aim through the closed curtains he walked up to Taiga with an even more annoyed expression than before. 

“Oh maybe since I carried you back half dead once before?” Hokuto replied and usually Taiga would only shrug it off and they would just go on with their next mission as if nothing had happened, but things had changed. 

Taiga couldn’t deny that he had indeed also become more protective of the other one when it had been Hokuto who had been shot at a mission. But maybe their emotions would also stand in their way of judging the situation right. There was no way they should ever choose each other over the target, this was their job after all! There was no room for hesitation.

Trying to not pick a fight, Hokuto just went over to the other side of the bed and lay down with his back turned to the other one. 

Taiga’s thoughts kept racing for hours, never had he felt this restless after a failed mission and then his phone vibrated. Hokuto was either deep asleep or he was at least pretending to be. When Taiga read the message his look turned even darker.

Maybe it was time to stop relying on each other this much after all. They had each other’s back, which was good, but it wasn’t like they hadn’t handled their missions on their own until now.

With a determined look Taiga got up and grabbed the bag with his rifle. 

***

_ You either finish the job or we will finish you _

The message he had received from the client was more than clear and while it wasn’t uncommon to be threatened it was indeed not a good move to do so right away. Taiga’s chances to get to the target only hours after he had failed were more than slim. But what the client wanted he would get, so Taiga was sneaking around the private hospital the target had been brought to. 

Security was high and after just a few minutes trying to find out if he could somehow get the target from outside the building he realized that he would need to go on short distance.

Leaving his rifle behind he equipped himself with knives, guns and some surprises he hid in his jacket. 

No one knew his face so it was easy to get into the building, but it would definitely be difficult to get out again. First he had made sure to know each and every floor and corridor, with all doors that were open or locked, so he could make a quick turn in case things wouldn’t go as planned.

There were only two guards in front of the target’s room, maybe one or two inside and the chances that there was back up waiting somewhere was also high. Taiga came up with a quick plan, not wanting to waste too much time and he put on a mask and special glasses, not that it was too suspicious, at least not in a hospital, but his reasons were different after all. When he was set up he threw a gas bomb around the corner, making the guards curse and pull out guns, but it was too late for them to react already. As expected there had been more guards inside and when one of them came outside to check what was going on Taiga was already waiting with his gun, his shot going unnoticed to other patients in the hospital with his silencer absorbing the sound of the shot. 

He moved quickly, making sure to not take a risk when he made it to the target’s room and he threw a small flash bomb into the room before he stormed it. No other guards were in his way and while it wasn’t his style to finish a job with someone already lying half dead in a bed, this wasn’t the time to get emotional. 

Seconds later he made his way down the corridor with quick steps, getting rid of the mask and glasses and trying to behave like a random visitor. Unfortunately his escape got cut short when he spotted people storming the front door after they had obviously lost contact to the guards inside. Even more unfortunate was that one of them immediately pointed at Taiga, which meant he had most likely missed a set up security cam.

With a quick turn he vanished out of their sight the moment he recognized the well too known movement of their hands towards the back of their jackets. 

His second escape route was the rooftop and he made it up there without any trouble. There was an emergency leader down to the back of the building, but he wasn’t stupid, the possibility of someone waiting there for him was too high.

He made it to the other side of the building and took out the last surprise he had brought with him to this messed up second mission. A thin escape rope, which would only give him hold enough for a pretty quick escape. The hospital had 5 storeys and that was already one too many to use it, but he had no other choice. 

He hurried to bring the carabiner into place and get on the other side of the railing. Trying to move as slow as possible, because a too strong pull could already make it snap, but for an assassin it was a pretty useful tool! When he was down at around the second floor he could hear people shouting upstairs and then bullets were flying way too close passed him. Trying to buy time he shot back, making them lean back over the railing, but then the fateful shot towards the carabiner came.

“Oh no…” There was nothing more to say or do when the rope dropped and with him Taiga went for a free fall for the last good four meters. He didn’t even have time to turn around or try to somehow land safely, but lucky for him he didn’t hit the ground as hard as he thought. A trash bag had actually absorbed the shock of his fall, but something felt off. There shouldn’t be any trash bags on the side of this building.

“You are welcome.”

The moment he heard the familiar annoyed voice from behind him he was distracted by new bullets flying towards them, so for now they had to get away before he had to listen to a ton of scolding.

“What the hell were you thinking?” And it started…

“I thought you could have caught me instead of throwing a trash bag under me,” Taiga replied casually, on which the other one gave him a death glare.

“Can we talk about this when we are a bit further away?” Taiga asked as they had barely been a few hundred meters away from the hospital, but Hokuto grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around. 

“No we cannot! Are you back on your suicide mission trip?”

“Well, that phase was your fault in the first place,” Taiga said, shrugging his shoulders on which Hokuto got ready to lose it.

“So am I at fault for this as well?” Hokuto shouted back, but he hadn’t seen the reply coming as Taiga faced him with a serious expression.

“Yes you are.”

Hokuto couldn’t even reply, all he could do was stare back at the other one in a loss of words before he shook his head and pushed Taiga to the side, leaving first. “I can’t believe this shit. I should have left you dying then maybe.”

“Maybe that would be indeed better than bringing yourself in danger,” Taiga whispered more to himself, but Hokuto had heard him and finally it clicked. So that was what it all was about and while he couldn’t deny that he had felt the same recently he also knew that they as assassin’s should never make each other the priority over the job, it was just too dangerous. Not that he hadn’t just done the exact opposite. 

Hokuto made a step back towards the other one, already opening his mouth to voice out his name, to tell him that they needed to stop growing too attached, that it was too dangerous. But all his thoughts got interrupted by a small object falling right between them. 

Their confusion only lasted for a split second before they looked up at each other and both turned, trying to get away as fast as possible.

Hokuto aimed for a metal trash container on his right, but the explosion happening behind him came too soon to seek shelter. 

First he felt like he had passed out, but then he realised that it had barely been seconds maybe minutes. An annoying sharp noise in his ears made it hard for him to get his orientation back and when he turned around a wall of smoke greeted him.

“TAIGA!” He shouted, almost unable to hear his own words. He reached out for his gun, making it through the smoke, but there was no one on the other side. In a hurry he searched the two back alleys on the side, hoping Taiga had been luckier than him, but he was nowhere to be found. Then he realized something disturbing. He remembered clearly that the alley they had come through had been untouched by cars or pedestrians when they had walked it down earlier. There were still some puddles from the heavy rain before, but now there were the wet marks of tyres and also some wet footprints.

“This can’t be happening,” Hokuto let out while he put his gun away and dashed out the alley, hoping he could maybe track down the car, but he had been too late. There was no sign of any car nearby and the bigger street would also not show him any marks to follow. In a hurry he went back to the small alley to search through the few small trash bins and bricks that had been tossed around by the explosion and he was lucky when he found Taiga’s phone! If it had been an accident or on purpose he couldn’t tell, but it could be to his advantage or to his disadvantage that the boy had lost it. Then he realized that there was another item which could help him to track the other one down and he started running towards Taiga’s hideout, because it was closer and he had the keys anyway.

The one thing he didn’t have was the password for Taiga’s phone, but it wasn’t like he didn’t know how to still get his hands on the necessary data. When he read the message about the failed mission and the threat he knew that they didn’t have much time. If the client found out that they had gotten their hands on Taiga it wouldn’t take much time for the client to get someone to get rid of Taiga together with the remaining men of the target. 

“I told you to not accept this one,” Hokuto said to himself while he opened the laptop at Taiga’s hideout to search for the tracking device he hoped Taiga had still on him. After all that was how he had found him when he had realized that Taiga had left the love hotel, which was of course not later than the moment the other one had shut the door. Had he really thought Hokuto was asleep? Or had he maybe counted on his help? Taiga had also been aware of the fact that their earpieces had a tracking device, so if he wanted to run off into a suicide mission he would have definitely left it behind. 

When he got a signal and he realized that the device was indeed working and moving he hurried to get as many weapons together as he could find in Taiga’s hideout. 

When he was ready to go he wanted to make sure to lock the data on the computer before he left, but when he wanted to do so he noticed some open tabs, which didn’t seem to have anything to do with any of their missions. First he wanted to ignore them, knowing he had no time to lose, but something made him click on one of the tabs nevertheless. 

How could something so normal, so harmless make him feel so extremely stupid. Like a heavy stone he recalled all the times he had asked Taiga all the stupid and teasing questions after Hokuto had invited him over to his place finally. Now he felt like the stupidest person ever for not realizing this sooner!

“Wait for me you idiot, I need to bring you back to buy you a freaking couch!” Hokuto growled to himself before he shut down the computer and headed out, tracking the device with his phone.

***

When the red point on the map had finally stopped moving, Hokuto hurried to get closer to the place, but as he had expected it wasn’t a building he could easily sneak up on to. Not that he had planned to do so in the first place.

He was so angry, so annoyed and so ready to let out his frustration on all these guards in front of the warehouse that he walked up to the building without any kind of hesitation.

He got spotted seconds later. The guards pulled out guns and knives, while Hokuto still didn’t bother to lift any of his weapons. From this distance they could try and aim and maybe they would be lucky, but maybe also out of bullets. When one of them vanished inside the building to report the intruder, Hokuto finally reached out for the two heavy guns he had stuck to the back of his belt. 

The guards immediately opened fire, but the first bullets missed him and there was not much for the guards to do when Hokuto pulled the trigger of the two automatic compact machine guns. Taiga’s hideout had been full of fabulous surprises and Hokuto had made sure to bring a lot of them. 

The first obstacle was out of the way before the magazine was even empty. Nevertheless Hokuto threw the two heavy guns to the ground as he reached out for the heavy metal door. He pulled it open, but remained on the side of it, knowing that bullets were the first thing to await him. When the firing stopped for just a brief second he pulled out a hand grenade and threw it inside without even taking a look before he closed and locked the door.

He leaned against the heavy metal door with his back, only getting pushed away from it a tiny bit when the explosion made the room behind him fall silent.

With a determined expression he reached out for another gun, a smaller one this time and made his way inside the building. A wall of dust made it easy for him to stay hidden and he soon realized that he had already taken out most of the people as no one stopped him when he made it through the empty warehouse. 

The silence in the warehouse made him slow down and after his anger loaded entry he made sure to keep his calm now. Which he needed seconds later when he heard a gunshot and right after that a muffled sound, which was more than obvious from Taiga. 

And while every bit of reason and experience in this job told Hokuto to just stay put there was this annoying part which had actually jolted on the sound and wanted to dash out of his hiding place. Luckily he wasn’t at that point of stupidity yet, because there was no way that whoever was there with Taiga had actually really just shot him in a life threatening way, after all Taiga wouldn’t give them information about the client this easily and if he had then he would be dead by now anyway. So the game they were playing was to hurt Taiga so that Hokuto would make a mistake and dash out of his hideout. 

For a moment there was silence in the warehouse until Hokuto could hear the sound of chains. While it showed that Taiga was immobile it also gave him a hint the others wouldn’t get.

“Two people, one on the right and one behind him,” Hokuto whispered. They had a kind of morse code system between assassins in case they found themselves around the same target. The way Taiga had pulled on the chains had given Hokuto all the hints he needed for now and he retreated as fast as he could, making his way around to the other side and up a staircase. 

Seconds later he had a clear picture of his targets and they hadn’t moved from their spots, which was to Hokuto’s advantage, because now he could aim for the one behind Taiga without having to aim over Taiga. 

He lifted both his remaining guns carefully in front of him and took another deep breath. One of the men had his gun up at Taiga’s head, not that he would just shoot him like this, but if Hokuto missed there was a chance of them throwing their plan overboard, not that Hokuto would ever miss!

Another deep breath, two more heartbeats, three...and then his fingers were steady on the trigger and both men were lying on the ground with Taiga looking over his shoulder with a teasing smile. 

“Such a showoff, aren’t you?”

“Be happy I am or I would have left you hanging there. Not that I couldn’t still decide to do so?” Hokuto said teasing as he walked up to Taiga who had his arms chained up to a bar over his head, with his feet barely touching the ground. 

“You wouldn’t dare,” Taiga shot back knowingly, after all he was hurt and Hokuto wouldn’t let him hang there knowing he had a bullet stuck in his leg. 

“Just let me ask you something,” Hokuto said and crossed his arms to his chest without freeing Taiga yet. “Did you really think I was asleep when you left for this ridiculous second try?”

Taiga could only chuckle on the way Hokuto found the worst timing for such discussions, but it wasn’t like Taiga could just walk away from this, literally. 

“There is only one place I ever saw you peacefully asleep,” Taiga replied, which was answer enough for Hokuto as he walked up to the other one and put one hand on the chains and pulled Taiga a bit closer on them. 

“Then don’t you ever dare to make me regret trusting you again!”

Which meant as much as Hokuto would kill him if he really ever sneaked away knowing that Hokuto wouldn’t realize it.

“Oh I won’t dare that, I am not ready to die yet,” Taiga replied with a lopsided smile before he gave the other one a more teasing look. “But you still owe me a real night in a love hotel!”

“And you shall get it,” Hokuto replied, finally getting rid of the chains on which Taiga fell a bit to the front, putting his arms around the other one’s shoulders to stabilize his hurt leg, obviously, there was no other reason. “But before we get to that, let me buy you a couch?”

“A couch?” Taiga asked perplexed before his look changed to something more soft. “You were on my computer, right?”

“Your own fault if you leave the tabs open, but just so you know I totally agree on the location you chose. They have pretty nice apartments there.”

Taiga shook his head, yet he could only form a smile. There had never been any reason for him to get another place to live. His hideout had always been enough, until now. Until he had become jealous of Hokuto’s couch. 

“But don’t you think a bed is way more important than a couch for now?” Taiga asked with a played begging look on which Hokuto rolled his eyes. 

“Only if it is a double bed though.”

“Oh if you want to invest the money into it then we can get whatever size you want,” Taiga replied laughing. 

“Maybe I should have left you behind after all or you will make me pay for your whole furniture.”

“Just think about how boring this job would be without me.”

“Indeed,” Hokuto said as he helped Taiga towards the door. “Without anyone to die for this would be way too boring for both of us.”

On that statement Taiga made the other one halt and pulled his chin towards him, for a quick yet kind of demanding kiss. “You mean someone to kill for.”

“For you? Any time!”


End file.
